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Drug info - Can you tell if it's LSD by the physical effects and visuals you get?

I'd be surprised if this hasn't been asked before but I used the search engine and couldn't find anything that answered my question.

So I recently acquired several tabs of LSD from a trustworthy source but still you can never really be sure, he took one the other night (first experience) and had a great time with fantastic visuals though he didn't really get lost in intense and deep thoughts (maybe just a tiny bit although it was very easy to come back to reality) though I do understand that 'thinking' part of LSD doesn't always happen when you take it.

I took one tab of supposedly 'pretty strong stuff' (the guy had been told).

Physical Effects:

SWIM noticed he was coming up 1 hour after ingestion and felt very euphoric and relaxed (like a really subtle MDMA peak minus the rushiness). (I started getting light visuals after 2 hours).
He then peaked after 3-4 hours which gave him rushes of Euphoria in the groin area and tickly sensations in his upper body.

Mental effects and visuals:

I felt like a kid, everything was fascinating and he'd often get lost in what he was doing; he'd just sit there staring at an object when he was supposed to do something else.
I was seeing tiles 'breathing' and other things like computer screens would look like they were wavey as if they had water inside them. Doors and their frames would look like they were expanding and contracting. In complete darkness there were subtle red and green coloured flower patterns everywhere.

I'm sorry if it's actually impossible to tell thus rendering this a stupid question but the idea of taking something else isn't pleasant and I read that nowadays Acid that's being sold as Acid is actually a DOx.

And if it's any help they day after everything seemed a little different and I was extremely relaxed and chilled out. The day after that he felt normal.

Find a place where I could buy all 3 kits though they say for MDMA testing and a few others such as speed and DXM but no LSD, but LSD can be tested on it?

And damn they're expensive. Do I really need all 3 rather than just the Marquis?

Click to expand...

Yes multiple reagents are necessary. Testing with a single reagent provides very limited discriminatory power, and single measurements leave no room for error since there's no additional checks done to ensure that the result is valid.

The standard testing kits for MDMA are designed specifically for that purpose so aren't entirely suitable for LSD. For presumptive LSD testing one ideally needs both Ehrlich and Marquis reagents. Mecke reagent would be a nice additional confirmation.

So what is the logic of testing with these specific reagents?

Contrary to popular belief these test reagents do not positively identify any drug. It's not a case of test with reagent X and if it turns a certain color then it must be substance Y. That's a fallacy that has been spread by certain websites that list long tables of drugs and color change reactions. The testing is actually reductive. What we're trying to do is eliminate other possibilities with contradictory results up to a point where it seems most probable that one drug is present.

First we have to identify the other substances that might be present and that we need to be able to distinguish. In the case of LSD we're trying to distinguish it from other high potency hallucinogens such as the DOx series of psychedelic amphetamines, benzodifurans like bromo-dragonFLY, the NBOMe-2C series, 5-MeO-AMT etc.

Ehrlich reagent is an indole-reactive test. Ehrlich would therefore be expected to give a positive response to both LSD and 5-MeO-AMT since they are indoles, but not to the DOx series, bromo-dragonFLY or the NBOMe-2C series. A positive test with Ehrlich reagent would therefore make the presence of the latter substances improbable, while not contradicting that the substance may truly contain LSD.

We then need a second test to distinguish between LSD and 5-MeO-AMT. In the presence of LSDMarquis reagent turns olive green to black. Depending on the concentration 5-MeO-AMT should give a golden/brownish hue instead. It's important that the test is done at a suitable concentration so that the end color is not too intense, as deep gold/brown may look almost black. Again, an olive colored result would make the presence of 5-MeO-AMT improbable while not contradicting what would be expected if LSD were present.

Mecke reagent could then be used as an additional check to increase the confidence of the results. Mecke would be expected to turn olive to black with LSD. Any other color change would suggest the presence of something other than LSD.

So if after three tests we haven't had a contradictory result then it seems probable (though still far from certain) that LSD was the substance in question. One should still take care when consuming a new substance though. The test results are not 100% reliable, especially if the substance was a mixture.

Honestly, i can't even tell if something is LSD or some other chemical if I take it myself. Most psychedelics are very similar (at least to me), especially when you're talking acid or phens. I find that dosage, come-up and the length of the experience are the main differentiating factors with psychedelics (though some tryptamines can be quite distinct). I've had complex fractals and mind-shattering experiences on 'mild' substances like 2c-b or 2c-d that were exactly like those of of acid, I've had the exact euphoric body vibe I get from acid on a combination of 2c-d and DOI and DOC to me is simply slightly longer lasting acid. I know some people find all these psychedelics very distinct, but personally I find that they all just get you tripping in slightly different but still very comparable ways. Setting is probably more important then what chemical you took when it comes to the subjective 'tripping' experience (well, for me anyway..).